Making pastry shells

Abstract

Apparatus for making variously shaped pastry shells includes an annular baking ring supported on a horizontal lower plate to define an upward-facing female die. A gasket is disposed between the baking ring and the plate. An upper plate is positioned above and parallel to the lower plate, and includes a downward-facing male die configured to be inserted concentrically into the upper end of the female die and thereby define a die space having a flat floor and annular, vertical side walls between the dies. An annular collar is disposed concentrically about the male die and resiliently supported on the upper support plate such that, when the two plates are urged toward each other, the collar seals the upper and lower ends of the die space, and a volume of pastry dough disposed in the cavity of the female die is formed into a pastry shell conforming to the die space.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] This invention pertains to the culinary arts in general, and in particular, to methods and apparatus for the high speed, uniform quality, volume production of thin, rimless, open-topped, flat-bottomed, vertical-walled, pastry crusts or “shells” for baked dishes, such as pies, tarts, quiches and the like in a wide variety of plan form sizes and shapes. BACKGROUND [0002] Baked dishes incorporating pastry crusts or shells underlying, and some cases, completely surrounding, fillings of various types, are very popular and have been known since ancient times. Pastry crusts typically comprise a powdered flour, e.g., wheat or graham flour, mixed with eggs and an animal or vegetable fat, e.g., lard, butter, or margarine, to form a viscous ball that is rolled out into a flat sheet, wrapped around a filling of some type, and then baked, both to cook the dough and filling, and to impart a measure of structural rigidity to the resulting confection. Because even a baked cru...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] In an exemplary preferred embodiment, means are provided for introducing a pressurized gas between a central region of the lower face of the male die and the formed pastry shell, thereby enabling the formed pastry shell to be easily separated from the male die when the dies are retracted from each other. Additionally, a plurality of sharpened pins can extend downward from a central region of the lower face of the male die, and a plurality of corresponding recesses can be provided in the upper surface of the lower plate. The pins and corresponding recesses can be arranged such that, when the upper and lower support plates are urged toward each other, the pins penetrate through the gasket and the floor of the pastry shell, and are received in respective ones of the recesses, thereby forming a plurality of vent holes in the floor of the shell. The vent holes prevent the floor of the shell from buckling up destructively during baking of the shell.

Problems solved by technology

While such prior art efforts have met with some success, they are not without certain limitations.

Since such processes are incapable of producing relatively sharp bends and corners, i.e., 90° or less, they result in baking pans, and hence, pastry shells, with broadly tapered sidewalls that are either circular, or which intersect each other and the floor of the pan or crust at relatively large radii.

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